


Entwining

by sandalwoodbox



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Literal Sleeping Together, Living Together, Love, Loyalty, Marriage Proposal, Other, Politics, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 06:49:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16592915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandalwoodbox/pseuds/sandalwoodbox
Summary: Ten years after they first met, Diana and Akko pursue their careers and their love for each other in a world becoming increasingly familiar with magic.





	Entwining

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rhea314 (Rhea)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhea/gifts).



The radio crackled to life. “It’s eight o’clock on Tuesday, the 24th of July. The headlines this morning.”

Diana stretched and opened her eyes. Time to stop dozing and get out of bed. She rolled over to snuggle up to Akko before remembering she’d gotten up early this morning to stop by the jeweler’s before work. “Right, right,” she muttered to herself, and absently patted the empty mattress.

BBC Radio 4 continued. “Wildfires near Athens are now thought to have killed 50 people. Others have been rescued from beaches as they tried to escape the flames. Teachers, prison officers, the police, and members of the armed forces are set to get a one year wage rise that breaches the government’s cap on public sector pay.”

On the opposite nightstand, Akko’s alarm clock was paused mid-dance. It was a chubby green creature that sang a happy tune and spun when it was time to get up – always in contrast to Akko herself. Every morning she’d grumble and grimace and stay in bed until the last minute and still look half asleep until well after her second cup of coffee.

“Satellite images suggest North Korea has begun dismantling a missile testing site. The White House has released a statement saying that the president misspoke earlier this week when he accused witches of tampering with US elections. The BBC news is read by Kathy Clugston.”

Diana sat up and hopped off the bed, tapping the off button, just as the door opened and two maids came in, curtsying. “Good morning, Miss Diana.”

“Good morning, Chloe. Good morning, Sophie,” Diana said. “How are you today?”

“Quite well, thank you, miss,” Chloe said, and they curtsied again before going about their business. Diana stepped into the bathroom to get out of their way as they made the bed, pulled out an outfit for the day, and threw open the curtains. Outside, the sun hung in a blue sky, but a mist hugged the lake and the sweeping lawns, swirling around the standing stones and the hedges.

Diana splashed some water on her face and brushed her teeth, and already the maids were curtseying their way out of the chambers. “Thank you,” she called after them, and walked over to the bed where they’d laid out her Cambridge gray crosshatch suit, black flats, and a blue bowtie Akko had given her a few years before.

Just as she finished buttoning the vest, a knock came at the door. Perfect timing, as always. “Come in, Anna.”

“Good morning, Miss Diana,” Anna said, sweeping in. Her hair was nearly white now; she’d served the Cavendish household for almost forty years. “You look ready to take on the world.”

“Yes, this was a lovely choice. Thank you, Anna,” Diana said, pulling on the jacket and tugging on her lapels. “But I’m afraid my hair is rather a mess. I don’t suppose you know anyone who might be able to help me with that?”

Anna smiled at her impish tone. “I think I could manage, milady, if you don’t mind.”

Diana’s hair was always like the atmosphere when she got out of bed – thick pools of blond and tea-green at the base, less dense whorls layered on top, then thinning into wisps, until at some arbitrary point you had to declare that it ended. She could tame it herself, but she preferred the morning ritual they’d established when she was a child: sitting in front of the mirror, Anna working through the tangles with a silver hairbrush, chatting about the day to come.

“I heard the fires in Athens have gotten worse since yesterday,” Diana said.

“Yes, miss,” said Anna. “We sent a team during the night, and they’re working with the local emergency responders. Most of the cases haven’t been serious enough to require magical intervention, but we’ve had a few come our way. Constantine and Feofil are in Greece right now on standby for any other cases.”

“Excellent.”

“I was thinking you might like to wear the blue dress for dinner?” Anna asked. “Perhaps with your great-great-grandmother’s necklace.”

Diana’s breath caught in her throat. “We still have that? I thought that Daryl sold it off years ago.”

She had only seen the necklace once. When her mother had been dying, she’d often called Diana to her room and told her stories about their family and their past, trying to fit as much history as she could into the little time she had left. One day Diana arrived to find a flat unadorned black box, maybe twenty centimeters square, in her mother’s lap. When she asked what it was, her mother softly opened it and said, “This belonged to my great-grandmother, Lady Harriet Cavendish.” Inside was an intricately shaped silver necklace, lined with diamonds and emeralds. It wasn’t so large as to be ostentatious, but it managed to suggest a forest in full foliage – and in the center of the piece, a unicorn rampant.

Diana had always loved the stories about Harriet Cavendish the most. She was just coming of age when the first World War started. She earned a degree in conventional medicine at the University of London and pioneered magical treatment for a variety of ailments at a time when most witches were only interested preserving tradition. In the roaring twenties, she had been a flapper and one of the Bright Young Things, and one of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s lovers, if you believed the family lore. Harriet’s fiancée had given her the necklace shortly before the market crash of 1929, and to this day it was the most beautiful piece of jewelry Diana had ever seen. She had looked for it when she finally finished the ascension ritual and became head of the household, but she hadn’t had any luck.

“Odd thing,” Anna said. “Lady Daryl  _ wanted _ to sell it, but I just wasn’t able to find it anywhere at the time. But wouldn’t you know, I came upon it just this morning in with my underthings.” Her face in the mirror was completely blank.

Diana smiled. “That is  _ so _ strange. And yes, that sounds lovely.”

Anna finished with her brushing and with quick, practiced movements pulled Diana’s hair into a french braid. “There you go, milady. I need to go check up on the household, but I’ll see you later.”

“Thank you, Anna,” Diana said. She crossed to the bedside table and picked up her phone as Anna left.

· · ·

Diana 8:29: Good morning, darling. How was it?

Akko 8:34: heeey sleepyhead! (Face Throwing A Kiss )

Akko 8:34: everything went perfectly (Ring )(Ring )see you tonight!

Akko 8:35: can’t wait!!! (Smiling Cat Face With Heart-Shaped Eyes )

· · ·

Akko hopped down from the planter she’d been walking around on while texting Diana and headed into the editing studio, slipping her phone into her pocket. It was a large space, mostly empty now because the final cut of the film had been finished a few weeks ago. Today was all about the tech that Constanze had been working on. Honestly, Akko didn’t understand any of it, but she didn’t need to. Constanze told her what to get. She got it. And otherwise she stayed out of the way.

So today it was just a few people. Kelsey needed to give their sign-off as the head video editor. Neiden was there as the union rep for the faeries who’d worked on the project (and for the crew more generally.) And of course Constanze, whose work they were here to see.

As soon as she walked into the entryway the Stanbots swarmed around her feet, with a chorus of “Good morning, Akko!”

“Good morning! Good morning! Good morning!” she said. Their oversized heads banged painfully against her knees as she awkwardly tried to avoid stepping on them. She’d already broken enough of Constanze’s shit over the years.

Too late, she felt a metal hand sneak into her pocket and take the ring boxes. “Hey!” She grabbed at it but only got air. And suddenly the Stanbots scattered as fast as they had appeared. Akko took a deep breath in through her nose and stalked into the actual studio, thinking murder.

The other three were clustered by the computer, chatting. Neiden, standing on the desk, as she often did to lessen the height difference, saw her first and waved. “Ah, Akko! Good morning!”

Akko scowled and kept walking. “Where are they?”

Kelsey swiveled in their chair and waved, grinning. Constanze glanced over, then knelt down to speak with a Stanbot. Neiden gestured to a stack of DVDs. “Right here. Constanze did amazing work! We’re all rather excited. A new magical artifact of this magnitude hasn’t been created in hundreds of years!”

Akko waved a hand. “Not those, the rings! Constanze, your Stanbots took my rings. I need them back!”

Kelsey clapped their hands. “Oh, you’re proposing to Diana? That’s great, congratulations!”

Akko managed a smile of acknowledgement. “Thanks.” But she didn’t slow down.

Constanze straightened up. She was holding the ring boxes, opened, examining them closely. Neiden peered curiously over her shoulder, and Constanze, noticing, handed them over to the goblin and started typing furiously on her phone. As Akko reached her, face still stormy, Constanze held it up, giving a sidelong glance at the bots hovering nearby.  _ I’m sorry, we’ve just been so excited to see them. They shouldn’t have picked your pocket. But they were very careful with them. We’re so happy for you both! _

Akko felt something grab her legs and looked down to find a Stanbot hugging her. Then another joined it. And a few more. And a crowd. She felt her toes starting to lose feeling and knelt down to shoo them off. “Okay, okay. Thanks, all of you.” She took another deep breath. “It’s fine, I just panicked. I mean, it’s not fine. Thank you for apologizing. I mean, thanks for the congratulations, too. I do want them back at some point though?”

Neiden had pulled out a jeweler’s loupe and was examining the rings with a critical eye. She held up a finger. “Just a moment. Hmm. Yessss. Good silver, from a goblin mine. Human-worked design.” She shrugged as if to say you can’t have everything. “Still, all in all, fine craftsmanship. A good start to a marriage.”

With a toothy grin, Neiden closed the boxes and tossed them to Akko, whose eyes went wide and heart started pounding even as she realized she had already caught them. She tucked them into her pocket and felt relief wash over her. “So, what was this about an amazing magical artifact?”

Constanze rolled her eyes and tapped out on her phone,  _ Not that exciting. It’s easy. Anyone could do it. _ The Stanbots started unrolling a technical diagram so she could explain it for the umpteenth time.

“Please, Constanze, I love you but I will never understand this,” Akko said. “Can we just watch it?” Constanze shrugged, and the Stanbots started rolling the diagram up again, a little sullenly, she thought.

Kelsey spun back to their desk, pulled the DVD up on their screen and hit play. The others gathered round.

The scene opened up on Akko, standing silently in a dark room, a light emanating from the tip of her wand. “Hello!” her voice came through the computer speakers. “Welcome to a world of wonder. Let’s journey to the heart of magic, the soul of humanity. Your heart! Your soul! Thank you for believing and for being here today!  _ Solpa Eyala _ !” With the final words, she swung her wand down and a blast of green energy rushed from it, curling up the blank walls of the room like a hungry fire, then fading away, replaced by verdant vegetation that glowed with a pulsing yellow light.

And spilling out the edges of the computer screen, the same glowing plants. Akko gasped and reached over Kelsey’s shoulder, plunging her hand into the greenery. It was as soft and mossy as the original spell had made, for the brief moment before the video moved on and the plants dissolved into a cloud of golden motes and dispersed.

She looked up at Constanze, wide-eyed. “It’s perfect.” Constanze jabbed her finger impatiently at the screen and Akko turned back. On the surface it was a typical show of hers – dancing lights, broomstick tricks caught by a drone camera, metamorphosis, working up to animation of statues and more impressive magic. But at every opportunity, magic seeped out of the machine into the world. Shining butterflies poured out and flew past their faces. A whoosh of air blew over them as the broom passed close by the camera. Akko laughed with delight and hugged Constanze tight. She smiled and patted Akko lightly on the back in return.

· · ·

Diana’s start-of-work routine was simple. Put the kettle on. Pull up email. If there’s anything that can get a response before the kettle boils, do it. Make a cup of Lady Grey, or Earl Grey if that’s out. Check the paper mail and the fax machine for anything urgent while the tea cools. Take anything legal or financial over to Soraya for further review. Read and respond to whatever was left.

Today, for once, her inbox was light, so she gave herself a moment to lean back in her chair, sip her tea, and enjoy the windowless view: a cool stone room in the catacombs of the Cavendish Manor. Up until a few years ago, it had been part of the library, which poor maintenance had left to the mold and the mice. Now the books, many of which were rare editions or sole copies, had been moved up into the main house and restoration efforts were underway.

She could imagine her Aunt Daryl’s reaction seeing the office it was now: the plain tea service and biscuits, the simple Swedish furniture that had been shipped flat and assembled in the office by Diana herself, and the filing cabinet and work desk  _ in that same room _ , of all things. She’d say, “How  _ could _ you disgrace the Cavendish name like this?” As if the Cavendish legacy was the luxury they lived in.

Diana felt it growing inside her – the familiar anger that thinking of her aunt and cousins always brought on. She closed her eyes and pictured a meadow of tall grass swaying, repeating to herself:  _ The reeds give way to the wind and give the wind away. The reeds give way to the wind… and give the wind away. _

A knock came from the open doorframe. Diana let out a breath, glanced over, and motioned at Anna to come in.

“Sorry to bother you, milady,” Anna said.

“No, it’s fine, Anna. What is it?”

“Do you remember the refugee we brought in last week, from Turkey?”

She nodded. It would have been hard to forget. Somehow they had managed to get a case of the singing pox – sort of like chicken pox, but the markings would burst into haunting song that could drive people mad if they listened too long. Not something you saw every day. “What about them?”

“They don’t want to be sent back to the refugee camp. They’re asking for asylum.”

Diana frowned. “I don’t want to send them back either, but they can’t stay here. We can’t grant asylum on behalf of the British government. And it would be too risky for the Foundation to take their request through official channels.”

Despite the fact that leylines had always spanned the globe, immigration policy had only come into being in the last hundred years, during magic’s lowest point. Non-witches didn’t take magic seriously enough to consider its applications – it was dying out, after all, an unreliable relic of past centuries – and witches didn’t see anyone in the world worth enlightening, besides themselves. With the cost being that a small and dwindling number of witches would occasionally cross the border for a few days, years, decades, none of the young nation-states had ever bothered putting effort into guarding leylines.

The Cavendish Foundation’s work was easiest if it stayed that way. And the surest path to  _ keeping _ it that way was for nobody to think about it.

“Yes, miss,” Anna said, and stood silently in the doorway.

Diana sighed. She hadn’t really expected to get off that easily. “Do they have any magical aptitude?”

“Not that I’ve seen, milady.”

Diana tapped her pen on her desk. “Well, who can know for sure about these things. There  _ are _ a lot of people discovering they’re witches nowadays. I’ll call Headmistress Holbrooke later and see if they’ll take a scholarship student.” She scribbled a note to herself and stuck it to her computer screen. “We need to find a better solution, though. This won’t scale.”

“Yes, miss,” Anna said, smiling only in her eyes, and curtsied herself out.

Around two, Diana pushed away from her desk and made a fresh cup of tea. If she didn’t force herself to take a break, nobody would. Hot mug in hand, she wandered aimlessly out into the hallways of Cavendish Manor, letting her mind drift away from the day-to-day of running the Foundation. She barely nodded at Constantine and Feofil as they zoomed passed, their brooms pulling a couple more stretchers toward the underground hospital.

To be sure, the witch community had been insular in the past. Even just five years ago, the idea of keeping leylines secret had seemed plausible. Now, though – more and more people were waking up to find magic coming out their ears. Not always figuratively, either. And some of those people were learning Tia Freyre from YouTube, learning about leylines, and starting themselves an international transit business. Most major cities were  _ on _ leylines, after all. San Francisco to Tokyo was thirty minutes door-to-door, with no wait at the airport. And no customs. Better for the environment, too.

And it wasn’t just for smugglers or day-trippers, either. Recently, multinationals had started hiring witches in-house for transit of executives from office to office. And they were getting a jump on appearing respectable, leveraging their connections to get private immigration control on either end of the route. Governments seemed fine with that under the flag of “promoting trade”. For now.

But eventually someone somewhere would start wondering about the other thousand leyline exits. Someone would start talking about national security. Someone would use a leyline to commit violence. Or someone would start wondering where exactly the Cavendish Foundation kept their treatment facilities. And then the lockdown would start, and they would have to go through the same process to get patients across the border as any other non-profit – a process that had more to do with politics than need. For now, though, it was simple. Find someone who needed their help. Help them. Repeat. And it didn’t matter who or where they were in the world.

Without realizing it, she’d meandered up to the balcony overlooking the manor’s entry hall. It was quiet, and she planted her elbows on the balustrade and took a sip of her (slightly too cold now) tea, savoring the taste and the atmosphere. Quiet was hard to come by these days.

And it was a strange thing to find in the entry hall in particular, for her. When she was a child there would have been a bustling of staff at this time of day, cleaning, running errands, attending to the family’s needs. But that was before Daryl and her daughters ground the Cavendish house into the dirt for over  _ ten years _ .

She closed her eyes again.  _ … and give the wind away. _

It had seemed so obvious at the time: Daryl and her daughters, trampling on the honor of the house, on their legacy of healing, discarding servants who relied on the income to support their families, selling off family treasures as knick-knacks to anyone with a few pounds, all so they could keep buying themselves ermine shawls and caviar. And there was some truth to that.

But the fact was,  _ all _ the great houses of Britain were struggling, had been since the early 1900s, and the Cavendishes were not an exception. It was only after she had graduated from Luna Nova and ascended to head of the household that she discovered how low the coffers truly were, and how expensive the house was to maintain. She could argue with their tactics and their priorities and their general disregard for basic decency – but they didn’t lose the house, and that was more than you could say for a lot of families. Shame at her younger self’s naivete rushed into the void left by her receding anger; she tried to let that go as well.

With a boom, one of the great doors of the entrance swung open, and a group of chattering tourists tumbled in behind Carter, the butler. As always, he seemed to be enjoying embodying an extra stuffy persona for the sake of his audience.

“Welcome to Cavendish Manor,” he said, his voice echoing. “For a thousand years, this has been the home of the Cavendish family of witches. If you’ll look over here–” he gestured expansively to the wall behind him “–you can see the Tapestry of Beatrix. Beatrix was one of the Nine Olde Witches, and the founder of the House of Cavendish. Now, that unicorn you see there is the symbol of Beatrix and House Cavendish because of their devotion to the healing arts.”

As the tourists snapped photos of the tapestry, Diana straightened and turned back to the hallways. Enough of a break. Behind her, Carter’s voice slowly faded away. “Yes, the manor is still used as a residence. Miss Kagari and Miss Cavendish, who you may recall returned magic to our world and prevented a war, both live here. This is also the headquarters of the Cavendish Foundation, a magi-medical relief NGO...”

· · ·

Akko carried her cup of white rose tea back to the table where Sucy and Lotte were waiting for her. Sucy, as always, lithe and grey-skinned. Next to her, Lotte looked particularly pale as she waved Akko over and pushed her glasses up on her nose. Akko barely had a chance to sit down when Lotte set her fists on the table and demanded, “Show us!”

Akko laughed. “Don’t worry, I will. I’m glad you could both meet me. I know four o’clock our time might not be the most convenient for you, but I wanted to get your opinions.” She pulled out the ring boxes and set them open on the table.

“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss this!” Lotte grabbed the boxes impatiently and scrutinized the simple silver bands, taking them out and turning them over and over. “Oh, these are perfect, Akko.”

Sucy leaned over and grunted, nodding expressionlessly. “Yeah, nice.”

“So where did you get them? Are they new?” Lotte asked.

“No, I got them at a consignment store. The clerk didn’t know who the previous owners were.”

Lotte nodded, expression serious. She laid the rings into her palm, brought them close to her face, and whispered, “ _ Turuto Estida. Turuto Tarumare. _ ” Immediately a liquid yellow glow surrounded the rings, and then slipped off to form two tiny spirits that danced on her hand. “Hello little ones!” she said, and they stopped dancing to wave at her.

“They seem happy,” Sucy remarked tonelessly. She pulled a large, colorful mushroom out of her dress – which as far as Akko could tell didn’t have any pockets – and broke a piece off into her tea, which instantly turned bright green and started bubbling. She held the fungus out to Akko with a sharp-toothed grin. Akko smiled back apprehensively and said, “No thanks.” Sucy shrugged and tucked the mushroom away.

“The previous owners were a married couple,” Lotte said. “They wore the rings every day for 50 years, and loved and cared for each other very deeply.” The spirits had started running around her hands, playing hide and seek with each other around her fingers. Her eyes were shining, on the edge of tears. “These are a wonderful find, Akko.”

“Sounds like you and Diana will fit right in for them,” Sucy said. “They’ll probably enjoy being stuck with another two lovebirds.”

“Hey!” Lotte jostled her hands a bit. The spirits stopped their play and looked up at her. “Take care of them, okay?” They nodded, and Lotte released them back into the rings, blinking and wiping at her eyes before giving the rings back to Akko, who tucked them back into their boxes and away.

Sucy stretched and sighed, melting languidly into her cafe chair. “By the way, I’m sorry if I’m too energetic today. I’m not trying to overshadow your moment. I just feel so revitalized from this past weekend.”

Akko certainly hadn’t noticed anything. She shared a puzzled glance with Lotte, and they both shrugged. “You said you were going to some kind of retreat?” Lotte said.

“Yeah, a mushroom meditation weekend. Eat mushrooms, grow mushrooms, really try to  _ be _ the mushroom.” She sighed blissfully. “I had the best sex.”

Akko almost choked on her tea. “What? Who with? Where? How was it?”

Sucy grinned and closed her eyes, speaking flatly. “It was incredible. We were meditating on  _ being _ the mushroom, being a spore expelled and fallen to the ground, pulsing with life in the dirt. And then feeling out through the dirt, hyphae outstretched–” here she started lifting her arms, extended straight through to her fingertips, and swaying back and forth “–searching for food, for water, for life. But what’s this?” She suddenly clenched a fist. “I can sense another through the dirt. My hyphae penetrate the airy ground between us, their hyphae are coming towards me as well. Our specificities are compatible. A clamp connection forms.” She gathered her hands to her chest and thrust them into the air. “And our combined fruitbody erupts out of the ground.”

Lotte was red-faced and silent, but Akko said thoughtfully, “Huh. Well, it sounds like you were both into it and had fun, so I’m happy for you. What can you tell us about them?”

Sucy blinked and looked at her. “What else do you want to know?”

“Right, but like… were they a man? Woman? Non-binary? Something else? Do they live near you? Are you going to meet up again? Are they a witch?” Akko pressed her lips together to keep more questions from slipping out.

“Mushrooms don’t have gender,” Sucy replied distractedly, tapping one long grey finger on her cheek. “You know, thinking back, I’m not sure that we actually had sex. It’s possible we just got very high and held hands. But that was some damn good hand-holding.” A shiver ran through her from toes to head.  “I’ll need to go back there next year. Do either of you want to come with me?”

Lotte and Akko looked at each other and simultaneously said “I’m good” and “No thanks”.

Sucy shrugged. “Okay.”

There was a long silence. When it was clear Sucy wasn’t planning to say anything else, Akko asked, “So, uh, Lotte, what’s up with you?”

Lotte’s face lit up. “Oh right! I almost forgot to tell you! Annabel’s putting out a new Night Fall novel next month!” And she was off, gushing about the confirmed news, the rumors and fan theories, and of course her plans to attend the release in person.

· · ·

Diana tapped her index finger on the base of the wine glass as she sat at the table waiting for Akko. The restaurant was quiet, except for a low hum of chatter, the clinking of silverware, and the harpist in the corner. The music he was playing was interesting – definitely a classical feel, but she couldn’t quite place it. She made a mental note to ask him what it was.

Wetting her lips, she nervously smoothed her dress – it was blue, full-length and backless, with lace sleeves and a neckline just deep enough to showcase the necklace Anna had kept safe all these years – and checked her jewelry and nail polish. It was silly, of course. Akko would be here in five minutes, so if anything was wrong she wouldn’t be able to fix it. And besides, she knew Akko loved her and would love her even if her eyeshadow was off. Which it wasn’t, because Anna had looked her over before she left, patted her shoulders, and given her a slightly tearful hug, and she wouldn’t have let Diana go if something was wrong.

But still, her heart was pounding.

To distract herself, she ran through the day’s events in her mind. Nothing unusual. Giving Andrew Hanbridge an update on the rough sketch of how his donations were being put to use... Arranging for a refugee to be entered into a witch academy… overseeing the treatment of patients… working out the Q2 financials with Soraya... her finger paused on the wine glass.

She pulled her phone out. Sure enough, there was a message from Soraya, asking for confirmations of their donation numbers. It seemed like she had just started scrolling through the spreadsheet when someone cleared their throat by the table. She looked up to find Akko there, wearing a crimson dress she hadn’t seen before. Embroidered cherry blossoms tumbled off one shoulder; the other was bare. And Akko’s leg – which Diana was rather fond of – peeked through a slit on the left side.

Diana turned the phone off and stood up, nervousness suddenly gone, and put her hands on Akko’s waist to draw her closer, smiling. Akko stepped in and slipped her arm over Diana’s shoulders, going up on tiptoes for a quick peck, followed by a longer, lingering kiss. She settled back down on her heels and let her hand fall to the back of Diana’s neck.

“You look lovely,” Diana said.

Akko’s eyes twinkled. “You say that every night.”

“It’s true every night. But it’s especially true tonight.”

Akko gently pulled Diana’s head towards her until her mouth was right next to Diana’s ear, and whispered, “Looking pretty good yourself.” She clicked her teeth together and Diana shivered, finding her legs had gone a little weak. She gave Akko’s hand a squeeze and sat back down.

“I’m glad you’re here, I almost let myself get pulled back into work.”

“Happy to rescue you any time.” Akko said, winking and sliding into her own chair across from Diana. She drew out the ring boxes and opened them in the middle of the table. “So Diana… will you marry me?”

Diana laughed. “Of course I will. I believe I asked you first, last week?”

Akko put on an extremely serious face. “Well, it wasn’t official until we had the rings.”

Diana reached out and took her hand. “How about we get married and call it even?”

Akko cupped her other hand around Diana’s. “Sounds good to me.” They squeezed for a moment, then Diana picked up one of the rings and examined it.

“These are beautiful, Akko.”

“Right? Neiden approves of the craftsmanship, apparently. And their spirits told Lotte they had a happy past.”

“I think they’ll have a happy future, too.” Diana said, and set the box down. “Which one of these is yours?”

Akko pointed, and Diana took the ring out and gestured for Akko’s left hand. “Shall we?”

· · ·

The moon shone in the sky, nearly free of the earth’s shadow, its light falling on the Coade Stone unicorn statue and the menhir circle in the lake behind Cavendish Manor. Akko sat on the broad windowsill, draped in a silk robe, and gazed out, fiddling with the ring on her left hand. The metal was warm and full of love but still unfamiliar.  _ Like this house _ , she thought. The servants, the intricate stucco leaves and swirls that swept across the bedroom’s ceiling, the sheer size of the building and its grounds… when Diana had first asked her to move in, she hadn’t been sure she would ever get used to it. But she had.

She glanced over at the bed, where Diana lay curled up, breathing peacefully. It had  _ all _ taken some getting used to. But damn was it good now. She leaned her head back against the sill wall and smiled. She couldn’t believe her luck. It had taken years for her to realize how she felt about Diana. Or was it that the feelings took years to develop? Either way, at some point she had ticked over from wanting friendship to wanting… well, this. And the timing had worked out, and Diana felt the same, and nowadays she barely ever pinched herself any more to check whether it was all an elaborate dream.

Standing from the sill, Akko crossed to the nightstand and picked up the small towel where they’d laid the vibrator, and carried it to the bathroom. Even with the early start she’d had this morning, she couldn’t get to sleep as soon as Diana, so this chore had fallen to her. Like it did a lot of the time.  _ Curse of being a night owl. _ Definitely not something to leave for the maids, in any case. Even Diana agreed with that, though she seemed pretty resigned to the general idea that the servants would know a lot about their sex life. Akko just tried not to think about it too much. She gave the vibrator a quick wash and dry and tucked it back in its bag in the nightstand, then stood for a moment to take her bearings.

No, she wasn’t going to be able to fall asleep quite yet.

With a sigh, she slipped out of the room as quietly as she could and down to the kitchen, where she made herself a mug of chamomile tea. As she stood there, blowing on it, she heard footsteps in the hallway, and Anna appeared at the door.

“Good evening,” Anna said properly.

“Hey,” Akko replied.

“I… heard someone in the kitchen and came to see who it was,” Anna said. “Is there anything I can get you?”

Akko smiled. “No, thank you, Anna. I’ve got everything I need.”

“Very well.” She hesitated. “Miss Kagari, if I may…”

“Of course, Anna, what is it?”

“Well, as you know, I had rather the low opinion of you when we first met.” Akko smiled wryly – that was an understatement – as Anna continued. “I just wanted to say… I hope you know that we all hold you dear, both for Diana’s sake and for your own, and I’m so glad you two have found each other.” Her eyes misted.

Akko crossed to the doorway and set her tea down on the counter, then offered Anna a hug. The older woman clasped her hands together for a moment, then embraced her fiercely. When they separated, she wiped at her eyes. “Well, if that’s all, then I’ll be going back to bed, miss.”

“Yeah, and thank you, Anna,” Akko said. “It means a lot to me.”

Anna nodded and disappeared back up the corridor, and Akko made her way back to her room. By the time she got there, the tea was finally drinkable. She took a sip and set it down on the nightstand. The robe was slipped off and hung in the closet, the curtains closed, and she climbed gently into bed, curling her own body around Diana’s, burying her face in Diana’s blond and green hair. Diana sighed and snuggled back into Akko, drawing her arm into a finger-twined embrace without ever seeming to gain consciousness. Akko smiled, feeling the rise and fall of her fiancée’s breath, feeling the pulse of magic around and between them, and fell asleep.  


End file.
